EastEnders airs shocking twist for Kat Slater in early BBC iPlayer release

The single mother has been struggling to cope with son Tommy Moon's (Sonny Kendall) spiralling behaviour for some time, but she dared to hope that he was turning a corner after a good report from his summer job at the laundrette.

Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) playfully branded Kat a "softie" when she responded by buying Tommy a cake, and Alfie tried to persuade Kat to take some time away in her nan Mo Harris's (Laila Morse) caravan.

But the day took a turn when Kat found out that Tommy was skiving work, and had blocked her access to the tracker on his phone.

Tommy was busy trying to convince former stepdad Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) to get back together with Kat, lying that he knew she wanted Phil back.

Phil admitted that he still loved Kat, and Tommy made out that she should have forgiven his cheating by now! However, when Kat found out that Tommy was with Phil, she warned Phil to leave her kids alone. Phil made a big speech in an attempt to win her back, but Kat burst into laughter.

Kat insisted that she had moved on from Phil, and that no man who cheated on her would ever be forgiven. Tommy declared that he wanted to live with Phil again, but Kat put her foot down and ordered her son home, before telling Phil he had broken her heart and they could never go back.

At home, Kat tried to get through to Tommy, who screamed that he hated her. When Kat went on to tell Tommy that Phil didn't care about him, Tommy ran straight at his mum and hit her, in a truly disturbing scene.

Kat reacted by pushing Tommy, and he fell to the floor. As Kat told her son that she was sorry, Tommy stood up and issued a chilling warning, insisting: "You're gonna regret that you ever did that." As Tommy stormed out, what will Kat do next?

This isn't the first time that Tommy has lashed out physically, as he punched Alfie in the stomach almost a year ago. Will Alfie learn what Tommy has done to Kat?

Read more:

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• EastEnders star Francesca Henry says it’s “privilege of a lifetime” being on soap
• EastEnders’ Angela Wynter opens up on exploring Yolande’s difficult storyline
• EastEnders’ Matt Di Angelo wants to see more Wicks return to Albert Square

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

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